In a hysterical new video, Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld discuss the difference in conversation style (and in their perceptions) between someone smoking a cigarette and someone smoking a cigar. A cigarette smoker, they note, is often in a hurry or anxious and agitated. But when someone smoking a cigar speaks, according to David and Seifeld, what they say seems more like wisdom than chatter. Why is that? Answer: A cigar takes time.

This got me to thinking about pace and how it affects my work. When the pace changes does it affect the painting? Is there a difference in the choices I make when I feel the anxiety to just “get it done” or to get the brushes clean and get out of the studio as opposed to when I take time to allow each move to flow in response to the music? Or when contemplation yields just the right touch of color that pulls the whole thing together, do I actually save time by just looking?

Right now, while increasingly pressured by the deadline for my upcoming show, it is very hard to not to just want to GET IT DONE and speed up the pace. Sometimes that is simply the wrong approach. Paintings are a little like babies, they come in their own time. It’s foolish of me to not pay attention to that. Another case of: notice what you notice.

So I thought it might be interesting to play with the idea of pace. Class will mostly be time to work on whatever you want. I know folks are preparing for the ReMax show, etc. But bring two pieces in progress to play with and we’ll spend the first half hour with some fun and games.